The data, which has been published by the Environment Agency, shows how much packaging waste was recycled or exported between January and March this year – and gives an indication of the overall obligation producers will need to meet by the end of 2016.
It shows that 377,044 tonnes of glass packaging was actually recycled across the three months – over 30,000 tonnes more than was previously thought.
Provisional quarterly figures released last month identified glass packaging as a potential ‘problem’ material – with a combined 343,850 tonnes of glass remelt and aggregate recycled. This is just 22% of the estimated annual requirement of 1,512,119 tonnes (see letsrecycle.com story).
This latest data boosts that percentage to around 25% of the overall glass obligation – meaning that glass is largely on course to meet the end of year target.
Changes
Changes to final packaging figures are not uncommon. As more producers become registered throughout the year, tonnages previously unknown to the Environment Agency are made available for analysis.
Elsewhere, the amount of paper packaging recycled in Q1 rose by an estimated 50,000 tonnes, while plastics also grew incrementally by around 500,000 tonnes. In total, the amount of packaging recycled across the quarter rose by 85,000 tonnes.
But the amount of EfW packaging recovered appears to have been amended down – from 160,411 tonnes in the interim figures to 153,035 tonnes in the latest data.
Commenting on the outcome, Phil Conran, chair of the Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP), commented that the number of producer registrations were at a similar level to the first release of registration data in 2015 – predicting a ‘flat year’ with little change in the amount of packaging reported.
The provisional obligation for the 2016 compliance year stands at 6,881,595 tonnes.
‘Achievable’
He said: “The new figures based on obligation and Q1 recycling show that this year’s target are entirely achievable.”
On the EfW figure, he added: “Accreditation wasn’t complete when the data was put in. I think there’s still significant tonnage to come. There’s around 3 million tonnes of RDF being exported each year and it seems that where exporters are getting accredited that they are getting PRNs on 20-25% of the material suggesting that there will still be growth.”
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